A 2003 New York Times analysis of dog licensing data from recent statistics collected by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows that Hispanics are more likely than whites or blacks to own dogs, that young adults are more likely than retirees to have dogs and that dachshunds are not exactly winning any popularity contests.
Although this dog census was limited -- it counted only the city dogs that actually had licenses, one in five -- it did show clearly discernible patterns of dog ownership by neighborhood, tracked through ZIP codes. And these statistics confirm many longstanding dog-owner stereotypes.
Dogs that are considered tough are more common in neighborhoods with tough reputations. So the largest concentrations of pit bulls are in Spanish Harlem and Alphabet City. Rottweilers are popular in Soundview; Canarsie, Brooklyn; and Spanish Harlem.
Lap dogs are more often found in the lap of luxury. According to the city's statistics, more Shih Tzus live on the Upper East Side in the 10021 ZIP code than in any other neighborhood in the city.
Dachshunds are not so popular in the city, but the statistics indicate that at least 45 of them live in ZIP codes 10013 and 10014, which include the West Village, TriBeCa and Chinatown. There are only eight others registered across the city, with four of those being in ZIP code 10475, Co-op City, in the Bronx.
And what about poodles? Aren't poodles popular all over? Not in Manhattan, according to the statistics. Look for them in Sheepshead Bay or Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
New Yorkers and their dogs?
Cologne's "exceptional work of human creative genius"?
Cologne Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, under the administration of the Roman Catholic Church and is renowned as a monument of Christianity, of Gothic architecture and of the faith and perseverance of the people of the city in which it stands. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The cathedral is a World Heritage Site, being one of the best-known architectural monuments in Germany, and Cologne's most famous landmark, described by UNESCO as an "exceptional work of human creative genius". Cologne Cathedral is one of the world's largest churches, being the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe.
For four years, 1880-84, it was the tallest structure in the world, until the completion of the Washington Monument. It has the second-tallest church spires, only surpassed by the single spire of Ulm Cathedral, completed ten years later in 1890. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest façade of any church in the world.
Polar bears and department stores?
The New York City department store Bergdorf Goodman is the ultimate ladies-who-lunch shopping destination, complete with its own restaurant and an accomodating café. The stately building features eight floors of pure designer bliss, including spacious in-store boutiques from couture stars like Narciso Rodriquez, Chloe, and Jean Paul Gaultier on floors two through four—all furnished with swank, well-appointed dressing rooms complete with Central Park views. On five, younger fashion sybarites gravitate toward excellent selections of mid-priced lines like Marc by Marc Jacobs, DKNY, and Theory, and rack after rack of shoes. On the main floor, celebrity divas in dark glasses—and soon-to-be well-coiffed Upper East Side ladies en route to John Barrett's ninth floor salon—browse the extensive accessories department, with buttery leather bag upon bag from designers like Nancy Gonzalez, Chanel, and Prada.
A Turkish canyon?
Kanyon is a multi-purpose complex in the Levent financial district of Istanbul, Turkey, which consists of a shopping mall, a 30-floor office tower (26 floors of which rise above Büyükdere Avenue level) and a 22-floor residential block. It unites 179 residential apartments, an office tower and a 160 store retail space (covering an area of 37,500 m²) to undulate around a dramatic architectural “canyon” since its debut in June 2006.
The total construction area of the project is 250,000 m², with 30,000 m² of rentable office area, 37,500 m² of rentable retail area, 180 residential flats, 160 stores, 9 theater halls with a capacity of 1,600 spectators and a parking facility for 2,300 vehicles. Each floor of the office tower has a total usable office space of 1,167 m². The complex rises on an area of 29,427m².
Kanyon won the 2006 Cityscape Architectural Review Award in the "Commercial Built" category.
Malachi Mulligan and the Martello towers?
Seapoint, or Rinn na Mara in Gaelic, is a small seafront area between Blackrock and Monkstown in Dublin in the Dún Laoghaire local authority area. It is best known for its beach and bathing areas, beside a Martello Tower on the Dublin Bay seashore.
Martello towers (or simply Martellos) are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards. They stand up to 40 feet (12m) high (with two floors) and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15-25 men. Their round structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them resistant to cannon fire, while their height made them an ideal platform for a single heavy artillery piece, mounted on the flat roof and able to traverse a 360° arc. A few Martello towers were surrounded by a moat for extra defence. They were used throughout the 19th century, but became obsolete with the introduction of powerful rifled artillery. Many have survived to the present day, often preserved as historic monuments.
A number of Martello towers were built around the coast of Ireland, especially along the east, from Millmount (Drogheda), to Bray, around Dublin Bay but also around Cork Harbour on the south coast. On the east coast, concentrated mainly around Dublin Bay, the towers were in line of sight of each other, providing the ability to communicate with one another, or warn of any incoming attacks. Possibly the most famous is the Martello tower in Sandycove, near Dún Laoghaire, in which James Joyce lived for a few days. Joyce shared the tower with Oliver St. John Gogarty, then a medical student but later to become famous in Irish history as a surgeon, politician and writer. The fictional character Stephen Dedalus lives in the tower with a medical student, Malachi "Buck" Mulligan, in Ulysses. The character Buck Mulligan was based by Joyce on Gogarty. Known as the James Joyce Tower, it is now a museum dedicated to Joyce. A number of other Martello towers are extant nearby at Bulloch Harbour, Dalkey Island, Williamstown Seapoint and Sandymount and Martello towers feature in many literary works set in Dublin. On the north side of the city, Martello towers can be found in Portmarnock, Howth, Sutton and on both Ireland's Eye and Lambay Island. During the 1980s Bono owned the Martello tower in Bray, County Wicklow.
Rinn Na Mara?
Seapoint, or Rinn na Mara in Gaelic, is a small seafront area between Blackrock and Monkstown in Dublin in the Dún Laoghaire local authority area. It is best known for its beach and bathing areas, beside a Martello Tower on the Dublin Bay seashore.
Jewelry, pottery, spices and carpets?
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest covered markets in the world with more than 58 streets and 6,000 shops, and has between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. It is well known for its jewelry, pottery, spice, and carpet shops. Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped by type of goods, with special areas for leather coats, gold jewelry and the like. The bazaar contains two bedestens (domed masonry structures built for storage and safe keeping), the first of which was constructed between 1455 and 1461 by the order of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. The bazaar was vastly enlarged in the 16th century, during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and in 1894 underwent a major restoration following an earthquake.
Supertanker on the Istanbul Strait?
The Bosporus or Bosphorus, also known as the Istanbul Strait, is a strait that forms the boundary between the European part (Rumelia) of Turkey and its Asian part (Anatolia). The world's narrowest strait used for international navigation, it connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea).
It's about 30 km long, with a maximum width of 3,700 metres at the northern entrance, and a minimum width of 700 metres between Kandilli and Aşiyan; and 750 metres between Anadoluhisarı and Rumelihisarı. The depth varies from 36 to 124 metres in midstream. The shores of the strait are heavily populated on each side by the city of Istanbul, a metropolitan with more than 11 million inhabitants.
Cotton candy, Coney Island and minor league baseball?
Coney Island is a peninsula, formerly an island, in southernmost Brooklyn, New York City, USA, with a beach on the Atlantic Ocean. The neighborhood of the same name is a community of 60,000 people in the western part of the peninsula, with Seagate to its west; Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east; and Gravesend to the north.
The area was a major resort and site of amusement parks that reached its peak in the early 20th century. It declined in popularity after World War II and endured years of neglect. In recent years, the area has seen the opening of KeySpan Park, home to the successful Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team.
Jeff Koons on a New York City roof?
Balloon Dog (Yellow), Jeff Koons, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, originally uploaded by Gordon Gerard McLean.
Recently on view at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art through October 2008 was an installation of sculptures by American artist Jeff Koons (b. 1955), featuring three of his meticulously crafted works that had never before been on public display. The works were set in the most dramatic outdoor space for sculpture in New York City: The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, which offers a spectacular view of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline.
Throughout his career Koons has made art that refers to the everyday world around him. With eyes wide open and embracing all of American culture as he looks for inspiration in today’s consumer world, he has appropriated everything from advertisements and vacuum cleaners to cartoon characters, collectibles, and plastic toys. His work owes a debt to Marcel Duchamp’s Readymades, which place decidedly nonartistic objects in an aesthetic context, and to Andy Warhol. Koons has often stated that he wishes his art to communicate with as broad an audience as possible. His work explores contemporary obsessions with sexuality and desire; race and gender; and celebrity, commerce, and the media. His choice of objects and images forcefully addresses the impact of class, power, materialism, and consumerism.
Passing cab?
Taxi cabs are both loved and hated by New Yorkers. They serve as a quick and easy means of transportation across Manhattan, a route not amply served by the subways. The downside with having an abundance of cabs is the traffic that results. Most traffic-jams in mid-town are speckled with many of the over 10,000 yellow cabs that service the city.
The act of flagging down a cab is called "hailing"; there's not much to it, just stick out your arm and pretend you're the Statue of Libery. When the numbers on the roof of the cab are lit, it is available. Yellow Medallion cabs are the only ones authorized to pick up hails. Avoid "gypsy" cabs at all costs. These are regular cars that will take you from place to place; they usually cost more than cabs and aren't as well regulated (or as safe).
The ICE train and brand awareness?
The InterCityExpress or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn. The brand name "ICE" is among the best-known brands of Germany, with a brand awareness close to 100%, according to DB.
The only coffee boutique on Madison Avenue?
Nespresso is the brand name of Nestlé Nespresso SA, an operating unit of the Nestlé Group. Nespresso products are based on a proprietary system of single-serving "capsules" containing high-quality ground coffee, and specialized machines to brew espresso from the contents of the capsules. Capsules are available in a wide range of coffee varieties. The company is based in Paudex, Switzerland and has about 2,500 employees worldwide. Its machines are sold through retail channels, while the capsules are sold online and in about 175 "coffee boutiques" in 30 countries.
Lawrence Weiner at the Whitney?
As Far As The Eye Can See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, originally uploaded by Gordon Gerard McLean.
Lawrence Weiner: AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE marks the first retrospective exhibition mounted in the United States of the work of Lawrence Weiner. Though often associated with his founding role in the Conceptual art movement of the 1960s, Weiner is a prolific artist whose growing body of work is profoundly relevant today.
Motivated by a social desire to contribute toward a solution, Weiner says his artwork succeeds simply if it enriches the lives of other human beings. By employing standard materials, such as water or stone, the work is potentially accessible to anyone. At the beginning of his career, Weiner started making “give-aways,” small objects that he would trade for a drink or for another piece of artwork.
Lawrence Weiner: AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE was conceived in collaboration with the artist; his ideas are present not only in the artwork itself, but in the experience of moving through the exhibition. The layout upholds the utopian premises on which Weiner has founded his artistic practice: it is meant to facilitate the viewer’s experience of the work, to allow multiple points of view, and to increase accessibility without directives.
Co-organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, this landmark exhibition is co-curated by Donna De Salvo, Whitney Museum Chief Curator and Associate Director for Programs, and Ann Goldstein, MOCA Senior Curator. In conjunction with the exhibition, Weiner's films and videos will be screened at Anthology Film Archives in New York.
